The White House is quietly making life hard for high-skilled immigrants

白宮悄然改變的政策讓技術(shù)移民的生活更加艱難

723 words

WASHINGTON, DC

WHEN SURESH IYER, who designs trading technology for a large financial firm in New York, moved to America from Mumbai in 2013 he was not sure how long he would stay. But his career thrived, his wife moved to join him and soon they had a daughter. The family put down roots and decided they would like to settle permanently. But it is not easy. Mr Iyer—a pseudonym—is on anH1B?visa, a temporary permit for highly-skilled workers. He and his wife qualify for green cards (and their daughter is an American citizen). But thanks to a new annual cap on the number of cards available to Indian workers, they could be waiting decades to get them. Mr Iyer’s feels his life is on hold. “It is getting crazier and crazier,” he says.

2013年, Suresh Iyer從孟買(mǎi)搬到了紐約混稽，為一家大型金融機(jī)構(gòu)設(shè)計(jì)交易系統(tǒng)胰舆，當(dāng)時(shí)并不確定他會(huì)在美國(guó)待多久蔚袍。隨著他的事業(yè)蒸蒸日上，Iyer將妻子也接了過(guò)來(lái)，不久之后他們的女兒誕生了。背井離鄉(xiāng)的一家人決定在美國(guó)永久居住，但這并非易事髓抑，Iyer（化名）和妻子拿的是H1B簽證，為高級(jí)技術(shù)人員提供的一種臨時(shí)許可證优幸；雖然他們夫妻有綠卡資格（女兒是美國(guó)公民），但由于每年對(duì)印度移民發(fā)放的綠卡數(shù)量有規(guī)定限額褪猛，他們可能要等上幾十年才能輪到网杆。Iyer覺(jué)得自己的生活停滯不前，他說(shuō)“事情變得越來(lái)越難辦了”伊滋。

Since long before his election in 2016 Donald Trump has attacked undocumented immigrants, whom he sees as criminals coming to sell drugs, commit crimes and steal jobs. His signature policy, to build a wall on the Mexican border, has been fitfully effected, though without the alligator moat he reportedly wanted. When Mr Trump first promised to construct the wall, he said it would have a “big beautiful door” to let in legal migrants. In fact, under his administration, legal migrants are finding themselves shut out too. It is not only those banned by the president’s more dramatic executive orders; families like Mr Iyer’s are being affected by the grinding of sand into the wheels of the immigration system. The American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA), an industry group, calls this the president’s invisible wall.

fitfully adv. 斷斷續(xù)續(xù)地碳却；發(fā)作地

早在2016年Donald Trump當(dāng)選之前，他就已經(jīng)開(kāi)始打擊非法移民了笑旺，他把移民看作是來(lái)美國(guó)販毒的罪犯昼浦，搶奪工作機(jī)會(huì)。Trump在美墨邊界建立隔離墻的標(biāo)志性政策斷斷續(xù)續(xù)地進(jìn)行著筒主，雖然他反復(fù)說(shuō)要建一條鱷魚(yú)護(hù)城河的愿望沒(méi)有實(shí)現(xiàn)关噪。一開(kāi)始Trump說(shuō)要建隔離墻的時(shí)候，還說(shuō)墻里會(huì)開(kāi)一扇“美麗的門(mén)”讓合法移民進(jìn)入美國(guó)乌妙，結(jié)果在他的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)下使兔，合法移民現(xiàn)在也進(jìn)不來(lái)了。被政策攔住的移民不僅是政府認(rèn)為的那些人藤韵，還有像Iyer的家庭一樣被老鼠屎壞掉的粥虐沥。

Waiting times for almost all sorts of visas, permits and renewals have shot up. Applying for a green card while in the United States took six and a half months in 2016; it now takes almost a year. Work permits, typically issued to the spouses of certain foreign workers, which used to take two months to process, now take almost twice that on average. Overall the “adjudication rate”, or the share of applications processed in a given year, has fallen sharply, from 72% in 2015 to 56% last year. The number of visa forms outstanding is at its highest level ever, with 5.7m outstanding.

各種簽證、許可泽艘、更新的等待時(shí)長(zhǎng)都延長(zhǎng)了欲险，2016年申請(qǐng)美國(guó)綠卡只需要6.5個(gè)月，如今幾乎要等一年才能發(fā)放匹涮。工作許可天试，尤其是簽發(fā)給外國(guó)務(wù)工人員配偶的許可，以前只需要2個(gè)月的時(shí)間就能處理完成焕盟，現(xiàn)在平均要4個(gè)月秋秤『暝粒總體來(lái)說(shuō)，一年內(nèi)的“判決率”或者說(shuō)申請(qǐng)?zhí)幚砺鼠E降灼卢，從15年的72%下降到19年的56%绍哎。而被評(píng)委杰出的簽證表格比以往任何時(shí)候都多，達(dá)到了570萬(wàn)份鞋真。

Is this gumming up of the system deliberate? It is hard to prove that, says Sarah Pierce, of the Migration Policy Institute, a think-tank. But several policies seem perfectly designed to lengthen queues. All employment-based green-card applicants must now have a face-to-face interview, which swallows up officials’ time. More and more applicants for work visas are being asked to provide supporting documents to show what their job will involve or prove their qualifications. Before Mr Trump took office, at most a fifth of workers were asked for extra evidence. In the final quarter of last year, three-fifths were.

是政府有意在拖延辦理時(shí)間嗎崇堰？移民政策研究所（一個(gè)智庫(kù)）的Sarah Pierce說(shuō)這很難證實(shí)，但很多政策已經(jīng)能看出有意延緩進(jìn)度的端倪—所有以雇傭關(guān)系為基礎(chǔ)的綠卡申請(qǐng)者現(xiàn)在都需要面對(duì)面談話涩咖，這非常耗時(shí)海诲。越來(lái)越多工作簽證的申請(qǐng)者被要求出示相關(guān)證明文件，證明他們的具有該工作相關(guān)的能力檩互。Trump上臺(tái)之前特幔，只有五分之一的人需要出示額外的證明資料，截止到19年第四季度闸昨，這個(gè)比例上漲到了五分之三蚯斯。

And it is getting more expensive. Applying for a marriage-based green card, which costs $1,760 now, will rise to $2,750. Becoming a citizen will go from $640 to $1,170. Some people would even have to pay $50 to apply for asylum. Yet staffing is not increasing. In fact, as Greg Chen ofAILA?points out, some of the agency’s budget has even been directed towards Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency responsible for deportations.

美國(guó)移民律師協(xié)會(huì)（American Immigration Lawyers Associations）

除此之外，申請(qǐng)費(fèi)用也變高了饵较∨那叮婚姻關(guān)系綠卡將從目前的1760美元上漲到2750，成為公民身份從640上漲到1170循诉，有些人甚至還要為申請(qǐng)庇護(hù)多付50美元横辆。然而員工人數(shù)卻沒(méi)有增加，美國(guó)移民律師協(xié)會(huì)的Greg Chen指出茄猫，一些機(jī)構(gòu)的預(yù)算撥給了移民和海關(guān)執(zhí)法局狈蚤，用以開(kāi)展驅(qū)逐出境和遣返工作。

When somebody was refused an extension to their visa in the past, they were usually trusted to leave the country (and most did). These days they are thrown straight into immigration courts for deportation, says Mr Chen. Many of these people probably qualified for a visa, and simply made a mistake in filling in their applications.

Chen說(shuō)募疮，以往要是有人不愿延長(zhǎng)簽證炫惩，可以自行離開(kāi)美國(guó)（大部分人是這樣），如今這些人會(huì)直接被送上移民法庭驅(qū)逐出境阿浓。他們中大部分人符合簽證資格他嚷，可能只是填寫(xiě)申請(qǐng)表的時(shí)候犯了小錯(cuò)而已。

Some groups have been singled out. In April 2017 Mr Trump signed the “Buy American, Hire American” executive order. That tightened rules on theH1B?visas, the one Mr Iyer uses, most of which go to Indian tech workers. Since Mr Trump’s executive order, denial rates have shot up, particularly at large Indian-owned consultancies. In 2016 Infosys, one such company which is the largest single recipient ofH1Bs, was allowed 14,000 visas. Just 3% of applicants were rejected. By last year, the figure had fallen to just 3,200 and 36% of applicants were rejected. Consultancies are being told to provide evidence of exactly which clients their workers would be serving, for the three-year length of their visas. So much for that big beautiful door.■

2017年4月Trump簽署了行政命令芭毙，要求“買(mǎi)自己的產(chǎn)品筋蓖，請(qǐng)自己的人”，這將一些團(tuán)體排除在外退敦，這也使得H1B簽證和Iyer這樣的印度技術(shù)工人處境更加艱難粘咖。自從命令簽署以來(lái)，拒絕率飛快上升侈百，尤其是大型的印資咨詢(xún)企業(yè)瓮下。2016年Infosys（持有H1B簽證員工最多的公司）有14000個(gè)簽證名額翰铡，只有3%的申請(qǐng)者被拒絕。但去年讽坏，名額下降到了3200锭魔，因此36%的申請(qǐng)者遭到了拒絕。咨詢(xún)公司還要提供證據(jù)路呜，證明他們的員工為期三年的簽證將為哪些客戶(hù)提供服務(wù)迷捧。這扇大門(mén)可真是太漂亮了。